Dog Costume: Make a Simple Homemade Superhero – Sewing Machines Los Angeles

So you’ve decided to take your dog out trick-or-treating with you this year. There’s just one problem: you don’t have a costume. Here is a homemade, simple superhero dog costume for you to make.

Before you begin, make sure your dog is the type who will wear costumes. Never force your pet to wear something, if he or she doesn’t want to. That having been said, this costume is very simple and is something most dogs will agree to wear. It consists of two parts: a cape and two leg bands. You might opt to omit the leg bands and just do the cape, and you’ll still get a funny, believable costume.

You’ll need some fabric. I chose fleece because it’s easy to work with, sturdy, and you do not need to finish off the edges. Unlike most other fabrics, when you cut it, the edges won’t start to unravel. You can just cut the fabric and use it as is.

Cut out a piece of fabric that will cover your dog’s back enough to look like a cape. To make straps to tie around the neck, I cut off the seam from the bottom of a fleece jacket. It’s a piece of fleece folded back on itself and sewn, so I cut just past the stitching. That keeps the piece intact, and it will hold its shape better than a single layer of fleece.

To make the S logo, I cut a small shield-shaped piece out of yellow fleece. Make sure it is small enough to fit on the dog’s back and be seen clearly. You can use the width of your dog’s back, near the shoulders, as a gauge.

Then cut an S out of red felt, sized so that it will fit inside the shield. Sew the S on with red thread and a straight stitch on your sewing machine, or by hand. Alternately, you can use tacky or fabric glue. Make sure you allow time for the glue to dry, if you are gluing it.

Then sew the shield onto the cape using a zigzag stitch. Again, you can use glue if you prefer.

You can stop here, or fashion some leg bands for your dog. I used yellow fleece and cut simple rectangles long enough to wrap around the dog’s wrists, with enough overlap to sew on hook and loop tape to use for closure.

There you have it. You can make this simple homemade dog superhero Halloween costume in about an hour or less, for a mere fraction of the cost of buying one pre-made. One final safety tip: Never feed your dog human treats. Chocolate and xylitol may be toxic to them. Have a Happy Howl-oween!